Hadassah goes Hollywood:

MorningStar trio pushes for positive portrayals of women in film

Sarah Bernhardt had weight issues. The French actress of Jewish origin was considered “too skinny for her times.”

That background on Bernhardt was part of a recent MorningStar Performers presentation on images of Jewish women in film and television. The group spoke at a luncheon of the San Francisco Hadassah on Sunday, Nov. 14, at the Golden Gate Club.

The Performers are part of the MorningStar Commission, a group of Hadassah women working in Hollywood and television. The commission was founded six years ago by the women’s Zionist movement to research images of Jewish women in the media. The MorningStar Performers consist of three commission board members: Shelly Goldstein, Arlene Sarner and Linda Shayne.

In their short performance for Hadassah, the group showed film clips of various Jewish women throughout history. Goldstein transformed the lyrics of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” into a ditty about the wonders of plastic surgery, with lyrics such as “You turned me into an unnatural woman.”

The group also spoke about the advances made by Jewish actresses Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice and Hedy Lamarr.

Tucker, with her brazenly sexual persona, was one of the first women to wear pants in public. Brice was the first Jewish comedienne to perform for both Jews and non-Jews. Though Brice didn’t speak Yiddish, she was constantly given roles in which she was required to speak with a Yiddish accent.

Lamarr’s story — one of persecution and success — became the keynote for the MorningStar presentation. One of her films was banned in Germany, not for its nudity, but because she was a Jew.

The Austrian-born actress who was known for her exotic beauty, once said, “Any girl can look glamorous; you just have to stand still and look stupid.” But Lamarr was hardly stupid herself: She helped invent the technology used to guide radio torpedoes in World War II. This technology is still used in cellular phones today.

The presentation also featured bits about the character Marjorie Morningstar and actress-singer Barbra Streisand, who was described as using “her clout to portray Jewish women we’d all be proud of.”

Tovah Feldshuh’s portrayal of a Jewish mother in the 2001 independent film “Kissing Jessica Stein” was credited for putting the image of the Jewish mother back on track, after decades of unflattering portrayals of overbearing, pushy women.

And Debra Messing, star of NBC’s “Will and Grace,” was hailed for making her television character, Grace Adler, unapologetically Jewish.

The women of the MorningStar Commission finished their presentation by asking the Hadassah women, when they hear of movies that have positive portrayals of Jewish women, to see them on opening weekends.

They were also told to write letters to studio executives whenever they see a positive portrayal of Jewish women. “There is a belief that one letter represents 17,000 people who felt the same way but didn’t take the time to write,” the MorningStar women said.